


Electric Stars

by thegrimshapeofyoursmile



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: AI!Dorian, Donnic Hendyr/Aveline Vallen - Freeform, Multi, Non-Binary Inquisitor, Sci-Fi AU, characters and relationship tags will be added as this evolves, cullen has issues (as always), cullrian - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-16
Updated: 2015-11-24
Packaged: 2018-03-23 07:02:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3758890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegrimshapeofyoursmile/pseuds/thegrimshapeofyoursmile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Who are you?” he said harshly and the A.I. blinked at him.</p><p>“Well, that is a rather rude first impression you make here,” it said with a slightly accented voice Cullen could not place before it tilted its head. “Before you proceed to stunt or shoot me, can we talk?”<br/>////Cullrian, Sci-FI AU where mages don't exist, but A.I.s do, and where Cullen finds someone who may be able to help with dealing with those damned Venatori.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I don't like the title very much, but eh, it will do. Welcome to a new project - I have no idea where this will end, but I like the idea quite well, so we'll see. 
> 
> Enjoy reading!

There was a reason why Cullen hated open field missions, especially when it was raining. With a sour look, he stared into the sky and wiped the water droplets from his face. There was no point in trying to defend himself with an umbrella against the rain; he would get wet either way.

With a grunt, he entered the abandoned hotel that was his destination. There had been rumors of recent activity in some of the rooms; since it could be an escaped A.I., someone of the Order had to investigate it. Sometimes, at moments like this, he wondered why he did not stay in the Circle unit; then he was reminded of what had happened there and it prompted him to walk into the hotel a little faster. 

Cullen hated places like this one; everything was slowly decaying because of age and negligence, making the floors unstable and the building full of unforeseen dangers. Every step he took had to be both silent and careful. It was not an easy task, but Cullen had been at this for long enough to manage. There was light, dim, but still quite noticeable, and he kept his gaze fixated on it as he crept forward. Someone moved in the light, casting flickering shadows against the wall visible through the half-rotten door. Cullen got his stunt gun ready and leaped into the room. 

It was an A.I., but it looked nothing like the models from Ferelden. As he entered the room, a head quickly whipped up and grey eyes widened in surprise. The face that stared at Cullen was infinitely handsome, with dark skin, a well-kept moustache and a small beauty spot next to one corner of the mouth. There was nothing, absolutely nothing that indicated an A.I.- save for the spot where its steely skeleton shone through the torn, badly bandaged skin of its arm that gave it away.

The protocol demanded to stunt any rogue A.I. as soon as possible, but even though Cullen aimed, something let him hesitate.

“Who are you?” he said harshly and the A.I. blinked at him.

“Well, that is a rather rude first impression you make here,” it said with a slightly accented voice Cullen could not place before it tilted its head. “Before you proceed shoot me, can we talk?”

“No,” Cullen said roughly and aimed again. There was something in the A.I.’s eyes, something almost human - fear. He had never seen a lifelike expression like this. It looked almost---natural. For a moment, he was fascinated. 

“Please,” the A.I. said softly and it was a plea more desperate than some of the pleas Cullen had heard from humans before. “Please, I am not doing any harm, don’t do this to me. In fact, I might have stored information that could be useful to you. Something regarding the Venatori.”

Cullen perked up. The Venatori and their aggressive belief in the superiority of articifial beings over organic beings had become quite the problem in Ferelden in the last months; to have an A.I. with possible helpful information...

Cullen took a deep breath- and pulled the trigger.


	2. Chapter 2

It was still pouring when he carried the stunned, unmoving android into his mobile home to rest it on the couch before shrugging off his own coat. With a sigh, Cullen lit a cigarette, let it dangle from the corner of his mouth, slid on his leather gloves and got to work. 

The first thing he did was looking for the chip that held all the necessary informations about the A.I. and usually was located in the neck or, in rarer cases, in the arm. To make his task easier, he peeled the A.I. out of its torn shirt and raised a brow when he saw the various places where the usually thick and durable artificial skin was torn or at least scratched- hints that the A.I. was a fugitive at least and probably had been wandering through the wilderness for a while now. Cullen took photos from the damage and moved on. There was no denying that the A.I’s embodiment was almost perfect and unique at the same time; the creator had even taken enough care to place some dark, almost cute moles around the chest. The embodiment was more muscular than the regular Fereldan models and he wondered at the purpose behind this. The skin warmed up to his touch and there was slight pulsing around the throat as he put two fingers against the place where there would be the cervical artery on a human throat. High standard then- in fact, such a high standard that it could have only been produced in Tevinter. Cullen gritted his teeth and took a deep drag from the cigarette before his fingers found the chip.

The micro sensors in his fingertips, part of the standard repertoire of every Templer, should do the trick and activate the chip’s information without rebooting the system and waking up the A.I. Unfortunately, Tevinter systems worked differently than Fereldan systems- the A.I.s had a wider berth of operation possibilities, including the tiny little fact that sometimes the rebooting system started working despite the override. 

Which was why Cullen almost lost his cigarette when the A.I. started moving and lifted its head while Cullen was trying to get into its information core. His hair was soft, Cullen absently noticed, soft and black, probably made from human hair, just like the moustache, if he was right. Maybe he was meant to serve for sexual pleasures- but no, usually sex A.I.s had a much different demeanor towards Organics.

“What are you doing?” the A.I. protested and tried to turn its head while it started to struggle in his grip. Cullen held it down as best as he could, losing both cigarette and contact with the chip in the process, which caused him to swear loudly. “This is violating my rights! At least buy me dinner first, Maker! I hope you can appreciate that this was a joke. I do not eat. But the meaning came across, yes?”

Cullen slowly exhaled before he patiently said, “Listen, I do not want to make this harder for both of us than it has to be, please keep still so that I can look into your information core.”

The A.I.’s eyes narrowed for just a tiny fraction and it shook its head rather furiosly. “I do not allow you this, I don’t crack open your skull and poke against your squishy brain until it yells back, do I? Why can’t you just ask me like a civilized person?”

“Why can’t you cooperate?” Cullen asked back and lifted a brow, shaking his head before he got up. “Alright, here’s the deal: You will answer my questions and I will treat your damage.”

The A.I. stared at him for a moment before it briefly looked down to where its skin was torn open, before its gaze wandered back to Cullen. “You _stunned_ me when I begged you not to and now you wish me to make a deal with you? What do I look like to you, some sort of imbecile?”

“Well, that I only stunned you should show you that I am not interested in deleting you or cutting you off,” Cullen said and forced another smile on his lips. “So if you are nice, I am nice. This is the last time I ask you before it gets dirty: Do we have a deal or not?”

“I suppose,” the A.I. said and looked rather sullenly at its feet. Cullen tried not to be amused by the display and searched for the skin spray and some dabbers.His place was a mess, he absently noted, but it probably would take him some time until he came around to clean it up. It could not be helped and probably did not matter at this point. What mattered, however, was to gather the things he had finally found and carry them over to the sofa before dropping them onto the couch table and sitting down next to the A.I. which watched him cautiously.

“Give me your arm,” Cullen said, silently pleased when the A.I. did as it was told and did not move when he started to clear the torn spot. “What is your chosen name and what is your creator’s name - or rather, your house’s name?”

“Ah, so you noticed the accent, excellent,” the A.I. said with a clearly pleased smile, “I am Dorian of house Pavus, recently Minrathous.”

“A born A.I. then,” Cullen said and grit his teeth before he sprayed the skin spray all over the place and watched it seamlessly mend the torn edges together. 

“We prefer the term ‘created by our own’, but I think born has a nice ring to it as well,” the A.I. graciously allowed. 

“Right then,” Cullen murmured and moved on. “What is your chosen gender and which terms do you prefer?”

“I am of male gender and prefer he, his and him pronouns.”

“Good. What were you doing in that ruin? This is not Tevinter.”

“No beating around the bush I see, and a rather intelligent man you are, I do love me some intelligent Organics!” The A.I. winked at him, completely unfazed by the way Cullen only twisted the corner of his lips into a grim shape of a smile. “Well, you see, I was looking for a place where nobody would find me and where nobody would be offended by my mere existence, even though I am rather passing as an Organic, I think. So there it was and I was about to get as comfortable as one could be miles away from home in a half-rotten, quite wet sorry excuse of an ancient building and then you came - the shiny prince who shot me down and kidnapped me!” 

“I stunned you,” Cullen corrected him and sprayed onto another tear. “And you should be grateful it was me who found you- if it was another one from the outdoor unit, you would be in the Circle now and they do not like A.I.s like you.”

“What, stunning, charming and witty?” Dorian asked and cocked a brow before he added, “I am sorry, I forgot that stunning was _your_ specialty.”

Cullen groaned and prayed for patience. “Why have you left Tevinter and why did you wish to remain hidden?”

“Well, one could say that I am probably something like a fugitive,” the A.I. said after a pause and gave a tiny shrug, although he did not look too happy about the fact to be here. “Had I known that my first direct encounter with a Fereldan Organic would be so _stingy_ , I would have probably gone to Orlais without giving a damn about the future of your kind.”

Cullen frowned and stopped spraying to study the A.I.’s face. It was simply out of habit; an A.I. could not be read like an Organic, but since they were not able to lie anyways, it was not necessary. However, he had always been someone to look the other into their eyes, even if they were artifical. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Dorian said and there was something unreadable in his eyes, “I mean that the Venatori plan to wipe you all out - and for the first time in ages, they have good chances to succeed.”


	3. Chapter 3

Cullen blinked, then he lit the cigarette that had gone out in the meantime anew. After several deep intakes, he blew out some smoke and asked, “What in the Maker’s name are you talking about?”

“You have heard about the Venatori around here, yes?” the android asked and cocked his head a little. When Cullen silently nodded, Dorian smiled a little. “Well, then you know that they are a...well, one would say they are a cult, but my kind does not know cults per se-”

“Semantics,” Cullen interrupted him as gently as possible and moved the little table lamp Dorian was starting to paw at in excitement from out of his grab. “You get sidetracked a lot.”

“I suppose,” Dorian allowed and smiled a little sheepishly. Cullen almost smiled in response. “As I was saying, the Venatori are some kind of cult of my kind - they believe that my kind is destined to be the only species fit to survive on this planet, that we are the ones earth belongs to and that all Organics therefore should be wiped out because they are not worthy. As you can imagine, this could be quite inconvenient for your - _why are you pointing that thing at me again_?”

“I know all of this already, get to the point,” Cullen growled, continuing to point his gun - the real one this time, not the stun gun - directly at Dorian’s head. “This is getting us nowhere. You said something about valuable information, but so far I’ve gotten nothing from you I haven’t already known. How?” The sudden question seemed to surprise the A.I. because he did not immediately respond, so Cullen quickly and impatiently elaborated, “How are they going to do it? What is their plan to destroy all organic life?”

“I will tell you if you put away that gun. I do not like it when people threaten me,” Dorian said quietly. His gaze found Cullen’s and he locked eyes with him. It was deeply unsettling, but Cullen did not look away. “A favor for a favor. This is how it works, right? Like information for information? I do not wish you harm, else you would have already noticed.”

Cullen watched him a moment longer, then he lowered the gun, hating himself for it as much as he wanted to believe that it was the right thing to do. For a moment it was quiet in his mobile; he watched the small lights of the table lamp and the cigarette flicker over the ceiling. It was warm, good light, the kind of light a screen could never provide. From the corner of his eye he could see the A.I. slowly and carefully reach for the lamp again, gently turning it between his hands. The startle that went through Dorian’s body when Cullen suddenly commanded, “Talk!”, seemed almost too real. With a small, unnecessary cough, Dorian continued, “Well, they found...someone. They call it the Elder One.”

“The Elder One,” Cullen repeated and frowned, “Sounds important, but I’ve never heard of this before.”

“I can imagine,” Dorian replied, cradling the table lamp against his chest like a small infant. The light flickered dangerously, but the A.I. did not seem to mind. “The Elder One was all but forgotten, until the Venatori dug him out again. He was a system called Corypheus and he is very old, very powerful and very, very unstable. In fact, old data tells that he has been unstable back then as well, which was the reason why they deleted his data - or tried to. Apparently he already was too powerful to be shut down for good.”

Cullen closed his eyes and finished his smoke in utter silence. This was the thing about A.I.s: No matter how adapted they were, they always failed to fill silence with little noises just to make the silence a little less silent. In this moment, he was almost grateful for it because it allowed him to think. After crushing the cigarette stump underneath one of his boot soles, Cullen huffed a little and thus gained Dorian’s full attention back - or at least a major part of it. One never really knew with A.I.s. “Alright, I should deliver you to my boss, but… I’ll take you with me to a friend of mine first, let’s see what she thinks of your little story.”

“I’ll happily answer more questions if they’re asked in a civilized manner,” Dorian replied and then, after a pause, asked, “What is your name?”

“Why dou you ask?”, Cullen wanted to know in response while he sat down next to the A.I. again. “Give me your shirt.”

Dorian eyed him suspiciously. “Even though my embodiment is rather attractive, I am not that kind of A.I. I must say I am flattered about the compliment, though, especially coming from a man who is too insecure to give me his name - which is rather unfair, I must say, since you already know mine. Isn’t it custom to trade names?” 

“Cullen,” he said after a pause with a small sigh und rubbed the bridge of his nose, hoping that his cheeks did not look as red as they felt warm to the touch. “And that’s not what I meant - it’s torn. Give it to me and I’ll try to mend it for you. You’re sitting on it.”

“Ah, indeed I seem to do!”, Dorian realized, wiggled a little around and handed his shirt over to Cullen. “Why not simply produce a new one? Is every Organic in this country so….backtracked? Can I watch?”

“It’s not that interesting,” Cullen replied with another small sigh and got up to fetch needle and thread. He could feel Dorian’s gaze on him when he sat down again and started to pull the thread through the needle eye before he made seveal small knots into the end of the thread so get a big knot. Simple, small tasks, small and analogue and never to be traced, which was exactly what Cullen wanted.

“Can I learn?” Dorian asked and leaned over him to get a better view, which also made it almost impossible for Cullen to finish his task. “Who is your friend? Is she an Organic or one of my kind?”

He seemed almost like a child, Cullen thought and was reminded of some of the A.I.s in the Circle before they were put in their work units. Twisting his lips into another grim smile at the thought, he carefully mended the shirt and handed it back to Dorian. “She is an Organic, of course.”

“Of course,” Dorian repeated and frowned a little; his hands made no inclination towards grabbing the shirt. “You seem to be a bit hostile towards my kind.”

“I just don’t trust your kind, that’s all,” Cullen replied tersely and squared his shoulders. “I’ve seen a lot of things and I’ve seen what your kind can do.” Before Dorian could respond, Cullen got up from the couch and peered through one of the windows. “Night is clear. Let’s ride.”


	4. Chapter 4

„Wouldn’t it attract a lot less attraction if you just had a hover glider like everyone else?” Dorian wanted to know. At first, Cullen did not respond; he just glanced at Dorian every now and then to make sure that the A.I. did not do anything stupid. As it was, Dorian was merely interested in the world outside of Cullen’s car. He pressed his forehead and hands against it, the reflections of his curious eyes bright and attentive in the window. It was reminding Cullen of a child, and the thought was unsettling. Dorian was too alive, too convincing. He should have gotten rid of him right from the very beginning; why he hadn’t done so was an enigma to Cullen himself.

“Cullen? Have you decided to cease talking to me because you do not trust my kind?” Dorian asked and even turned his head away from the window long enough to questioningly look at Cullen. “How will you ever be able to trust me if you don’t even want to look at me properly?”

“That would keep me from driving. You wanna get a fender bender that much?”

“That is a valid point,” Dorian agreed after a pause and looked out of the window again. A moment later, he added a little more quietly, “Could you please not call my eventual injuries a fender bender? It is…hurtful. I am not a car.”

“It is _hurtful_?”

“It is! Language has power on its own! I know you don’t trust me, but you cannot kill me either, or else you would have already done it. Is a little respect too much to ask for? Isn’t this common among your kind, showing each other kindness? It certainly is among mine, though there are probably different things that count as courteous, but that is not the point.”

Cullen clenched his teeth, then he slowly exhaled and fished for another cigarette to light before he put it between his lips. The words sounded forced when they came out. “Fine. I will try to avoid hurtful language.”

“Really?” Dorian’s voice seemed to be full of doubt, which reflected in his facial expression. “I mean…thank you. That was more than I expected.”

After that, there was quietness for a while and Cullen was able to focus solely on the road. Dorian was right; nobody used cars today anymore, nobody but elderly people stubbornly clinging to the past. At least most of them fueled their vehicles the same way Cullen did, namely by solar energy stemming from the solar panels on the roofs of their cars. Perhaps it did not make any difference since the outcome was the same: There was barely anyone to see on neglected, half-forgotten streets which came into a worse and worse condition every day, and that outcome was the same no matter what people fueled the last cars with. Dorian’s question lingered like a ghost in Cullen’s mind and he absently chewed on the filter of his cigarette. There were a lot of good reasons, but there was no need to tell an unfamiliar A.I. about them.

“Why are you wearing this coat?” Dorian asked out of a sudden, “It is by far not cold enough to justify a might fur around the collar of this coat by any means. Not to mention that black makes you awfully pale.”

Cullen merely grunted again, not by far in the mood to discuss anything personal with his passenger, but the comment caused him to shift a little in his seat before he threw the leftover filter of the cigarette out of the window. “I think a few rules have to be made. Number one: Don’t ask me personal questions.”

“I see, you are the moody, mysterious type,” Dorian declared and thoughtfully tapped his chin. “Well, the black coat with that awfully huge black fur collar certainly fits into that picture. What then may I ask, if you do not want to answer personal questions?”

“Nothing. It would be best if you stopped talking altogether, but I don’t think I’m that lucky.”

“So you do have a sense of humor after all, albeit it is a rather bad one,” Dorian laughed. “I cannot imagine you have many friends with that attitude.”

“That’s certainly none of your business,” Cullen answered shortly. At the end of the bumpy street in front of them, the first unnatural lights slowly started to rise. They blinked in the darkness like the thousand eyes of a sleeping giant and devoured the mellow light of the stars above them. Cullen gripped the steering wheel harder and began to look for a parking spot. Space certainly was not the issue, but other criteria were. The first outskirts of the city were already close enough to make out individual houses and the lush gardens on their rooftops when he finally found a parking spot that satisfied him. Carefully maneuvering the vehicle between thick, thorny bushes, he stopped the motor and pushed the button that caused the solar panels on the roof to get out. Under their whirring sounds, he took the keys and got out of his mobile home, carefully avoiding all thorns. “Come with me.”

“And here I thought you’d like me to stay here in your vehicle and wait for your return,” Dorian said with a small smile, but did as he was told and stepped out of the car. Cullen heard him yelp shortly after. “Fasta vass! Did you have to park in the only thorn bushes available?”

“Yes,” Cullen said, checked the solar panels and opened the back doors to get out the backpack with his most necessary belongings, once more checking if everything was at its place – which it was – before he took a deep breath, locked the vehicle and grabbed Dorian’s hand as he slung the backpack over his shoulder. “Stay with me and don’t stray. As soon as we’re in the city, don’t say much, don’t make too much eye contact and don’t attract too much attention. Leave talking to me.”

“Is that really such a good idea? You’re not the most talented, dedicated rhetoric I have ever seen.”

“This is not Tevinter, thankfully,” Cullen forced out while he activated the invisibility shields of the mobile home and got them out of the bushes. “I’ve got status here, and influence. You are by definition of the law a rogue A.I., a-“

He did not get to finish. Suddenly everything around him disappeared in bright, green light. Noise loud enough to destroy eardrums of lesser beings filled the air and Dorian gasped when Cullen pushed him flat on the earth, rolling them half underneath the bushes. Thorns scratched his skin and drew blood, but he did not care, his heart beating fast enough to make his ears ring. And then, abruptly the green light vanished as if it never had been there. For a moment, they both lay there, Cullen not daring to breathe while Dorian was entirely unmoving and pressed against Cullen’s back in an almost fearful fashion.

Then they heard the explosion.

Cullen barely had time to activate his sense-numbing implants for protection and even then, the noise and light were almost too much. It was as if the entire horizon stood in flames. It was as if the sky itself had started to burn, causing the earth to burn as well. It would not take long for the ashes to arrive at their place; Cullen’s mind raced, then he forced himself to get up, violently dragging Dorian with him. The A.I. went willingly as Cullen shoved him into the back of his vehicle before he shut the doors and climbed to the front to pull in the solar panels again, then he activated the protection shield. Several clanks suggested hooks being shot into the ground to fixate the mobile home while a metallic outer hull engulfed all of it. There was nothing more to do than sit down and wait. He ignored the pain shooting through his body as he sat down heavily on the sofa. Dorian crouched on the floor, wide-eyed and silent, as the vehicle started to tremble and shake from the force of the coming storm.

Cullen closed his eyes and forcefully controlled his breath as the first solid chunks started to hit the car.


	5. Chapter 5

The rocks continued to rain against the vehicle without any sign of stopping. At some point, Cullen had to have fallen asleep because he jolted awake when something gently nudged his shoulders. When he opened his eyes and sat up, Dorian looked at him with wide eyes before he caught himself and showed a little smile. 

“It stopped,” he said quietly and he spoke the truth: even after attentive listening, Cullen could make out no sound from outside. It was as if there had never been a maelstrom of chaos caused by a huge green explosion. After a while, he took a deep breath and climbed forward into the driver’s seat to turn on the outside camera that was installed in the back of his car, only to find out that it only showed a black screen after apparently having been destroyed by some of the stones flying around. 

“We need to go outside,” he said out loud and looked back to where Dorian was still sitting perfectly still on the floor. Dorian met his gaze, hands put in his lap, before his face visibly brightened.

“Wouldn’t it be wiser to send out someone who cannot be harmed much by circumstances that would normally kill an organic person?” he asked and cocked his head a little. “I am pretty convinced that I could go and see if everything is safe without being hurt much.”

Cullen only grunted and decided to light a cigarette before making any decision. Taking a deep drag, he internally debated with himself whether he trusted the A.I. enough to send him outside. Then again, it was impossible for robots to lie – they simply were not capable to become humanlike enough to let them learn how to lie. With a sigh, he finally nodded. “Alright. I’ll open the back door for you – you get out, look around, after ten minutes you come back. If you’re not back by then, I’ll close the door and drive away without you. Understood?”

“Understood,” Dorian agreed and waited for him to get back to him after having pulled up the safety hull of the vehicle enough to allow Dorian to get out of the mobile home. Positioning himself next to the door, Cullen gripped the door handle and nodded at Dorian before unlocking the door and opening it wide. Dorian was out of the vehicle in a matter of seconds; Cullen slammed the door shut behind him and set a timer on an old, battered clock at a small table before he sat down heavily on the sofa to wait. The minutes trickled by in an agonizing slow manner; Cullen’s gaze was glued onto the hands of the watch while he sat there motionlessly, trying to control his breath into a calm, even rhythm. 

After about nine minutes, there was a knock on the door. Looking up, Cullen hurried to open it, allowing Dorian to rush inside and slam the door shut behind him. He looked almost ecstatic, as if something truly interesting had happened in the few moments he had been away. 

“Your vehicle is fine so far, though you might have to change the tire at the left side on the rear axle,” Dorian began, “The entire area surrounding us is covered with rocks from the explosion. Also, there is a giant, green light in the sky, looking almost like…a breach or something, like a cut in the sky.”

“You are shitting me,” Cullen said in disbelief after several moments of silence. Raking his free hand through his hair, he took a deep drag from the cigarette, only to immediately exhale the smoke in a rather futile attempt to calm the chaos in his mind. His head was spinning with thoughts about the possible meaning of Dorian’s discovery. “What do you mean, there is a giant, green light in the sky? A green light like the one from the explosion we saw?” 

“Exactly,” Dorian confirmed and cocked his head a little. “I believe that the green light in the sky is the result of the explosion, if I am not mistaken.”

“I can’t believe this shit,” Cullen muttered and raked a hand through his hair again. “This is why I left duty in the Circles. Maker damn it all – we still need to get to the city, maybe Lel- Sister Nightingale knows more about it.”

Dorian hesitated for a moment before he asked, “Aren’t we going to investigate it?”

“We have no idea what it is or what it does and you want to go and investigate it?” Cullen asked in disbelief. “Are you nuts?” Dorian merely shrugged and mumbled something about scientific reasons, which caused Cullen to snort in return before he climbed back into the driver’s seat. “I am going to take a look at it myself,” he told the A.I. over his shoulder while he pushed the right button to retract the safety hull around the vehicle. “And then you are going to get out with me and walk with me to the city, and then we are going to meet with Sister Nightingale and hopefully she knows what to make of it and we can – Maker’s breath, it is a giant, green light in the sky.”

“I told you it is,” Dorian said and opened one of the front doors to climb out, while Cullen was still staring at the giant, green light surrounded by dark, thunderous clouds only a few kilometers away from them. With a frown, he stared harder, did the math and came to a conclusion that caused him to widen his eyes.

“The temple of Andraste is there,” he murmured, immediately sitting up straighter without even noticing it. “The temple with her sacred ashes… If anything happened to them…” Cold crept up his spine at the mere thought and he gripped the handle of the door a little too tightly as he opened it and jumped out of the vehicle, grabbing his backpack as a mere afterthought. Dorian seemed to notice his mood because he carefully cleared his throat before he began to speak. “Do you really not want to go and look what has happened?”

“Yes, I don’t want to,” Cullen said firmly after a moment of while he locked the vehicle tightly and activated the – fortunately still functioning – invisibility hull before he started walking towards the city. Dorian hurried to catch up with him, surprisingly not complaining at all. Even though he was not human and therefore had less problems to walk longer distances, Cullen had already mentally prepared to hear some protest. That nothing came from the robot only showed how busy he was processing the details surrounding the green light in the sky. They were silent as they marched on through the land littered with rocks, the whole area deadly quiet as if everything was hidden away in fear, as if death had touched it with long fingers. In the distance, Cullen noticed burnt earth and the air was thick; no breeze made breathing easier. The first faded light of morning was overshadowed by the sickly green light coming from the sky, which left a bitter taste in Cullen’s mouth. 

When they reached the outskirts of the city, they found people out of their homes, standing in their gardens behind the safety hulls around their houses and staring open-mouthed into the sky. Excited and worried whispers mingled in the dark of the dawn, but Cullen paid them no attention. He simply made sure that Dorian, who was looking around with apparent interest in his face, stayed right next to him and referred from straying. Upon seeing the symbol on his chest, several people tried to ask Cullen some questions, but he kept his answers short, struggling to stay friendly and never staying long enough for a chat. He finally stopped at one of the houses at the end of the suburbs where they made way for transportation routes into the heart of the city and rung the bell. 

“Please let her be home,” he murmured, impatiently waiting for the safety hull to let him pass and enter the house or at least someone to come out and talk to him. When the door finally swung open, it was not who he had hoped to see. Instead, he found himself confronted with a dwarf leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed before his impressive chest and a crossbow slung onto his back. Golden hair glinted through his shirt that had fallen open a little and a crooked smile appeared on a surprisingly handsome face despite the broken nose sitting right at the center of it.

“Well, well, well, if that isn’t my good old friend Cullen,” he drawled, smile broadening on his lips. Dorian peeked over Cullen’s shoulder in apparent interest. “I have to disappoint you – Aveline is not here, and neither is Donnic, they are both trying to regain order in the city. I’m afraid you’ll have to do with good old me.”  
“Varric Tethras,” Cullen said and sighed deeply before he reached for another cigarette to calm his nerves.


	6. Chapter 6

Many things could be said about Varric Tethras, but one thing was for certain: He always knew what as going on, and he always knew more than he told. There was a reason Cullen had hated having to deal with dwarven merchants - they were ruthless and almost always involved in something illegal. With Varric, it usually involved more than one illegal activity, especially when he accompanied Hawke.

“I would have never bet on seeing you wandering around with an A.I., my dear Ser Rutherford,” Varric remarked as he led them into Aveline’s house. The inside was warm and cozy without any unnecessary decoy; simple and clean, just like Cullen had always thought was Aveline’s taste. The floor was polished wood that fit to the white walls. Pictures hung at them, though only a few of them.

“How did you know?” Dorian asked in bewilderment while he looked around in the living room and inspected the red cushions on the otherwise white couch that was big enough for three people and was accompanied by two big armchairs made from dark fabric. Cullen watched him as he let one of his hands glide over the armchair before he settled in one of them with all the grandeur of someone who had never learned that people usually just did not enter a foreign house and sit on the furniture. Then again, he was not a human person, so that had to be expected. Cullen rubbed his eyes and decided that he was too tired to show decency, so he did not reprimand the A.I. and instead flopped into the armchair next to him, ignoring the beaming smile Dorian sent him.

“I know several A.I.s myself, know most of their ways,” Varric answered and settled down comfortably before he took out a pipe and began to stuff it with all the unhurried motions of a man who knew that important things were going on and he was exactly where he should be. Maybe it was that fact that worried Cullen the most. “Also, I could see your neck when you walked past me into the hosue. Sorry for prying, it was an accident.”

“That is not what we should talk about,” Cullen found himself growling before Dorian could form a response. “What is happening in the city? What happened at the Temple of the Sacred Ashes?”

“Easy, now,” Varric replied with a chuckle before his face grew unusually serious. “There is nothing we can do at the moment. There was a meeting at the temple to discuss the future of the templar order and their next steps against the Venatori forces - but I guess I don’t have to tell you that, do I.”

“You don’t,” Cullen agreed and tapped his fingertips against the armchair, “And Dorian does not need to know.” He ignored the small noise of protest coming from the A.I. and continued, “I was supposed to bring him into the headquarters for interrogation, but now I just - there was an explosion…”

“There was,” Varric said and looked at him carefully with his too-knowing eyes. “And there really is no other way to say this. The divine is dead. Everyone at the conclave died, at least everyone we know of.”

Cullen closed his eyes. There was nothing in his ears except for the slow, steady drum of his heartbeat, almost too slow, almost too fragile, but so very loud that it took away everything else. There was a small ache in his chest, one that quickly grew bigger and spread all over his body, causing his fingers to go numb with pain. Only what seemed to be ages later he remembered that he was not alone, that he could not cry and should not as well. This was not the end of the world; there would be a new Divine, a new leader, and the fury and the sadness would cease to be in time. Alas, what his head seemingly already understood, his heart could not handle, thumping slow and too loud, weighed down with grief. It took all he had for him to force his eyes open again. There was Dorian, watching him carefully with eyes that would never water in grief; Cullen was mad and jealous at the same time. Varric had smoked his pipe quietly, his face surprisingly solemn when Cullen looked at him. “Meredith?”

“Has gone wild,” Varric replied softly, “The entire city is in disarray and the most thing that scares people the most is that green light in the sky. Folks has gone mad all over in Ferelden, and who can blame them?”

“Hawke could help,” Cullen pointed out without a second thought, “Hawke could find out what it is, best it before it harms anyone and then-”

“Hawke,” Varric interrupted him sharplay, sharper than Cullen had ever heard him speak before, “Is at his end. He is busy enough with Kirwall as it is and it has...taken its toll on him. Investigating what is going on here, making it right and saving the entire world would break him. This is a task for many, not for a single man. Nobody can expect that, less of all people like you, Ser Cullen, no offense.”

“I still need to bring in Dorian,” Cullen pointed out after a moment, unwilling to say out loud that Varric probably was right. 

The dwarf shook his head and glanced over towards Dorian, who was staring at the pattern of the cushion with all the interest of a child for sweets. “Seems pretty docile to me. Where’re you from, Sparkler?”

“Me?” Dorian asked with slight confusion and tilted his head a little before he smiled rather charmingly. “I am from Tevinter. Cullen here called me a stray and worse things to come, except that I had valuable reason to come here.”

“Valuable reasons such as?” Varric asked, spo Dorian told him about the Venatori, and he also told him about Corypheus. Their entire conversation drifted past Cullen, who still had the feeling that his chest was too tight, probably would remain so for a long time to come. He wondered whether they would have time to stop by a church; lighting a candle and saying a prayer would have been a comforting thing to do in times like these. He snapped back into the conversation when Varric suddenly stood before him, flicking his left kneecap to make him look at the dwarf.

“Sparker here and I have decided,” Varric said and did not leave any room for arguments, simply speaking over Cullen’s voice that raised in protest. “We’ll go to Cassandra, talk to her. She’s been nagging me to come over ever since I reached Aveline’s house anyways.”

There was nothing Cullen could suggest as a better plan; seeing Cassandra would probably actually prove useful to find out the next steps, so he found himself nodding in agreement. Having something to do was good - being busy did not leave much room for the ache in his chest and in a way, he was grateful. Next to him was Dorian, looking strangely pleased. Was it because of Varric’s word that named him as one of the people making the plan? Cullen was loathe to ask, so he kept silent.

Hopefully things would be easier when they reached Cassandra.


	7. Chapter 7

Cassandra was angry.

For most people, that realization alone would have been enough for many to expect a rather bad day. An angry Cassandra Pentaghast was a force of nature, a loud whirlwind of sheer force that blasted through everything that dared to stand in the way. However, the fact that Cassandra was angry was actually not the worst part and it would not have been enough to lower Cullen’s morale.

Cassandra was scared.

He could not recall ever having seen her scared before, but there it was in the tightened curve of her jaw, lingering in the shadows underneath her eyes and gently drifting through the room as she carried it in her gaze. Everything about her was fierce as always for everyone who did not know her very well, but Cullen knew her well enough and so he saw what she was trying to hide. She was scared, and underneath it all was deep, unsettling grief that crushed her bones. Everyone was coping differently with grief and in Cassandra’s case, it was the fuel to her flame, the shock that added to her anger. The green light in the sky had left scars in all of them. 

Still, her gaze was sharp when it took in Cullen’s and Varric’s form and settled on Dorian, who was looking at her with the same curiosity he directed at everything and everyone else of interest. At her gaze, he bowed lightly with a small smile that could have been polite were it not for the mischievous twinkle in his eyes that betrayed him. At the thought, Cullen shook his head in light anger at himself because it was impossible for Dorian to fake anything. He simply did not have the emotional capacity to do so because he was not human, even if there had been slight lapses where Cullen had to remind himself of that fact during their one-day-trip into the heart of the city. They had had to be careful to not draw any attention on them because of Dorian’s nature, which naturally had slowed down the process of getting to Cassandra’s safehouse. He had tried not to be angry at the A.I., even if only for the sake of the man he had once been, the one who had tried to not condemn the machines for what they were and what they could be, but it had proven to be a difficult task and he had proven that he failed at returning to what he once had been. Had it not been for Varric and a strange sense in his chest that it would have been unjust and unworthy to do, he would have had abandoned Dorian right there on the streets that were filled with people bordering on panic. 

“This is Dorian of house Pavus,” Varric introduced Dorian to Cassandra and smiled like a cat that had just gotten the cream. “He travelled all the way from Tevinter into the South to help our forces against the Venatori. It’s pretty possible that he may be able to provide some information about the hole in the sky as well.”

“Not the hole per se, perhaps,” Dorian corrected and straightened, brushing invisible dirt from his jacket. “But a lot of information about things regarding it, I presume.”

“Oh,” Cassandra said and somehow managed to put her entire wariness into that single sound. When she crossed her arms in front of her chest, the muscles of her upper arms visibly flexed. She was an attractive woman, Cullen thought, not very much how society dictated women to be, but Cassandra had never cared about what society thought in the first place and Cullen had always had a soft spot for headstrong women. For a moment, just the briefest of moments, his thoughts jittered to Surana and he closed his eyes, let them crash and burn and buried them underneath every other thought he could quickly come up with. There were places in his head he tried not to visit, but sometimes they tended to visit him, whether he liked it or not. Meanwhile, Cassandra had taken absolutely no notice of what was going on in his head, which was just as well. He snapped back into place and time when Cassandra added, “I didn’t realize you were an A.I., which is…impressive.”

“I aim to surprise,” Dorian said with an almost elegant smile while he gently picked one end of his moustache. Cassandra almost smiled before she managed to look even angrier. Varric grinned and seemed as if he only barely restrained from rubbing his hands in glee about the entire situation. It was quite likely that he was writing another scene for his book in his mind again and Cullen had to admit that he could understand that Dorian was, at least probably from a writer’s point of view, certainly an interesting character for an A.I., especially in contrast to someone like Cassandra.

“Cullen,” she now addressed him, which effectively captured his attention and he smiled, stepped forward and embraced her quickly, but warmly. Unsurprisingly enough, there were only a few people Cullen would have called his friends and Cassandra was one of them. “You look – strong.”

He knew that it was just common courtesy, but Cassandra had always been a rather honest person, even if the truth hurt, and it spoke volumes that she was not able to tell him that he looked good or healthy. Still, it stung somewhere in the middle of his chest where a tiny part of him had hoped that he had recovered at least somewhat in the meantime, that Cassandra, who had last seen him months before, would be able to tell a difference between then and now. Slowly he let go of her and with a smile that hurt, he pressed his teeth together until they bit into each other. Cassandra did not seem to notice; unlike Varric, subtle mechanisms of behavior tended to fly over her head.

There was someone else in the room as well.

Cullen only noticed it when he let go of Cassandra. It was an elf, although he could not have said whether the figure was a male or a female elf, but it really did not matter because the interesting thing about the elf was that their hands were bound behind their back, their eyes closed in a face that was sharp even in the lax state of either sleep or unconsciousness. A bound person actually was not that unusual for Cassandra’s safehouse per se; sometimes she took people here for an interrogation. What was very interesting, however, was that one of the bound person’s hands glowed green. It was the same green glow that came from the sky as well.

Cullen drew his gun without a single thought.

“Stop!” Cassandra yelled and threw herself in front of the bound figure. “Don’t – we still need them, don’t you dare!”

“What the actual _fuck_ ,” Cullen cursed at her and ignored Varric’s way too amused chuckle while Dorian was watching the entire scene with bright eyes and apparent confusion, hands twitching at his sides as if he was trying to decide what he should do next. Cullen did not care for him, nor did he care for the bound person on the couch that had not even batted a single soft eyelash at all the noise he had made. Something ugly wormed its way through Cullen’s insides; this was just another thing the A.I. technology had touched and twisted. All of this would have probably never happened were it not for A.I.s and their cursed existence. “Who is this? _What_ is this?”

“This is _my_ house,” Cassandra snapped and pointed her finger at him. “And you will behave here, don’t make me hurt you. It might have escaped your attention, but I’m not very happy about all of this either. As it is, we need them.” She pointed at the bound figure again. “This one is a Dalish ambassador – and as far as we know, they are the last and only survivor of whatever happened that the conclave. Before you start yelling – we are pretty sure that it has not been their fault. Whatever has happened there likely affected them as well and led to…this.”

They all silently stared at the green hand for a long moment. Dorian cocked his head in obvious curiosity and shifted a little closer to inspect it a little more in detail. For once, Cullen did nothing to stop him. He was still trembling with sudden fury, trying to control himself, trying to breathe in and out deeply enough to let go of the anger that had gripped him too tightly. After a while, he shook his head. “This is madness.”

“It is,” Cassandra replied. They stared at the bound figure again, and at Dorian, who had by now crouched down next to the elf and started to look at the glowing hand from every possible angle.

“So,” Varric casually said after another while and smiled almost indulgently when all eyes – except for those of the elf who remained blissfully unconscious the entire time – focused on him. “Who exactly is ‘us’ in this scenario?”

“And here I thought you had all of this already figured out,” Cassandra answered and smiled victoriously. “I have a little bit of help, you see – Leliana and Lady Josephine Montilyet will hopefully arrive here shortly, and then we’ll start to look for a way to untangle all of this horrible mess and just…kill whatever stands behind all of this.”

Once again, Cullen found that he really liked Cassandra’s tendency for simple solutions.


End file.
